A finger joint, also known as a comb joint, is a

woodworking joint Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

made by cutting a set of complementary, interlocking profiles in two pieces of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

, which are then glued. The cross-section of the joint resembles the interlocking of fingers between two hands, hence the name "finger joint". The sides of each profile increases the surface area for gluing, resulting in a strong bond, stronger than a

butt joint A butt joint is a technique in which two pieces of material are joined by simply placing their ends together without any special shaping. The name "butt joint" comes from the way the material is joined. The butt joint is the simplest joint to ma ...

but not very visually appealing. Finger joints are regularly confused with box joints, which are used for corners of boxes or box-like constructions.

Creation

Finger joints are generally created by using identical profiles for both pieces. They are made complementary by rotation or translation of the tool with respect to the workpiece. Typically a finger router bit is used, but spindle moulders can also be used. Manual cutting of finger joints is time-consuming and error prone hence rarely done except in craft pieces.

Applications

A tapered or scarfed finger joint is the most common joint used to form long pieces of lumber from solid boards; the result is finger-jointed

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

. The finger joint can also be valuable when creating baseboards, moulding or trim, and can be used in such things as

floor board Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. ...

s, and door construction.

References

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests
{{Woodworking Joinery de:Holzverbindung#Zinkung_und_Gratung

Creation

Applications

See also

References